What to lay first?

[Tony House]

Hi

I am in the process of making a road and rail layout, using Minic Motorway together with my railway collection.

The problem I have is I do not know which to lay first,
do I lay the road way first then build the railway around it or do I lay the railway and build the road way around the railway.

To help those who do not know what minic motorway is, it is like the new micro scaletrix only it has normal cars lorries, double decker bues and coaches and can be use on a 12volt train transformer.

any thoughts would be greatfully received

[nickinwestwales]

Hi Tony-First up,delighted you are flying the flag for Minic-a great and under-rated system :D.....Now to the meat of the thing:- I am assuming here that you are planning a system using level crossings,car loading ramps et al.
If so,my advice would be-1-lay out all the components to get a general fit ,2-fix up the Minic track-if memory serves it has a more rigid & limited geometry,3-build the rail tracks to it-again,if memory serves,the road/rail interfaces were only available in super 4 track--although this didn`t have flexi-track as a component, it will be a lot easier to cut down rail sections to fit ...failing that ,a few super 4/system 6 converter rails will allow you to use flexi track to hook it all up-Good luck-sounds like a fun project :D

A.T.B
Nick

[Tony House]

Hi Nick

Thank you for helping in making my mind up what to lay first.

You are right the minic motorway system is under rated, it is a pity that Hornby do not make make a modern version. Just imagine trackside and oxford vehicals moving along a roadway under power instead of being static. (could be even dcc controlled)

You are correct all road rail interface are super four, which I am lucky to have some in my spares box as well as some converter tracks. The rail car transporters will need rewheeling to make the tranistion from super four to system 6 smother as the flanges are quite deep.

The centre of my road system will be the roundabout that I have just brought. All I have to do now is do a Brunel in final planning to have no level crossings on the railway main line, roads to go under or over the railway track.

[nickinwestwales]

Hi Tony-glad to be of help mate-As you say-what a missed opp. for Hornby-I bet all the original moulds are sitting in the factory in Margate somewhere gathering dust:-perhaps we should get James May on the case .... (hee hee )
On a practical note-If you are using the roundabout as a central feature,You might need to box a bit clever with the wiring:-If the ragged old memory serves,it turns both `up` & `down` lanes into a single electrical feed--It might be worth your while isolating the roundabout and arranging a seperate feed just to that-rather like a reversing loop on the railway- I can remember the set-up my pal & I had as youths-it was used for straight 2 track racing (with extra glued on tyres,weights over the pick ups et al ) but every time we tried to use any of the inter-track accessories (roundabout,pit-stop,t-junction etc ) the whole thing just wouldn`t work-Still-if you are going for the `procession` approach with,essentially a long single circuit, should work fine....will be interested to hear how you get on-post some pix if you can :D-A nice little trip down memory lane--many thanks,Nick

[Tony House]

Hi Nick

Thanks for you reply, I am aware of the eletrical problem with the roundabout, I am looking at an elongated figure of eight, running two inner loops and a long outer loop with a couple of lay bys for bus stops. A couple of juctions to be planned in one for the railway sidings area and vehical loading ramp, the other to a railway station on a raised plinth, the railway will run on a double track embankment with bridges over the roadway.

Will post photos once I start building, but I need to re-rubber the second hand track I brought first.

[nickinwestwales]

Hi ya mate...:)- Almost certainly preaching to the converted here but.....are the bus stop/pit lane sections also non-isolating ?? -and now I stop to think,you are going to be a busy lad changing the `points` (for want of a better word)--please excuse the obsessive behaviour-spent a full 3 hours of rare and valuable layout operating time this weekend tracing a dead short caused by laying in a live frog turnout as a yard lead without realisng and wiring it as though dead-works fine when set for the main ,switch it to the yard and everything shuts down......Oh how we laughed......

Looking forward to pix ( I LOVE that old Tri-Ang stuff )

ATB Nick

[Tony House]

Hi Nick,
Sorry to hear of your problem, been there - done it - got the tee shirt, just to advice the minic motorway laybys and juctions are self isolating just like a normal triang hornby point so vehicals can be isolated in a lay by like a train in a passing loop.

[willwasey25]

Hi everybody,
I am setting up a model railway and I have both some Super 4 track and also some System 6 track. has anybody got any ideas where I can get some of the converters from?

Thanks